The present invention relates to removable seat covers that can be used to cover car safety seats of the type that are designed to secure and protect a baby, an infant, a toddler or a small child in an automobile, especially in the event of an accident. Car safety seats commonly include a molded plastic shell and a releasable safety harness that is anchored to the shell at least three points. Such car safety seats typically include a safety harness, for example a five-point harness or a three-point harness, that includes at least a pair of shoulder straps, each anchored in the backrest of the seat, and a buckle assembly anchored to the seat bottom and adapted for releasable coupling to the shoulder straps. A soft, padded cover is typically also provided and overlies the occupant-facing surfaces of the seat shell. The seat covers that come with car safety seats are not easily removed, laundered and replaced. Furthermore, padded seat covers are more difficult to launder and dry.
Babies, infants, toddlers and children (hereinafter, generally referred to as child or children for simplicity) frequently spill or soil while restrained in car safety seats. For example, children spill food and/or drinks, vomit or spit up and sometimes defecate or urinate on themselves and the car safety seat. Cleaning up after an infant can be difficult and messy. Historically, if the car safety seat material on which the child is restrained gets wet or dirty because of soiling, someone has to remove the entire car safety seat from the car and take the car safety seat apart in order to remove the car safety seat material to launder the car safety seat. This process can take several minutes and one is left without a functional car safety seat until the car safety seat material is washed, dried, and put back on the car safety seat, and the car safety seat is then put back in the car.
Aftermarket car safety seat covers have been proposed. U.S. Pat. No. 6,926,359 to Runk describes a pad sized and contoured to substantially conform to the front surface of a car safety seat.
U.S. Patent Publication no. 20070085391 to Pines et al. describes a car safety seat cover that includes a particular three-layer fabric assembly that is alleged to restrict the passage of liquids and particles.
However, there is still a need for an improved car safety seat cover that is easily removed and laundered. More particularly, there is a need for a car safety seat cover that is easy to remove, launder and replace so that the cover can be changed more easily and, thus, more frequently because car safety seat covers are frequently soiled by food and drink, vomit or spit up from acid reflux or motion sickness, feces or urine from leaking diapers or during the potty training among many other insults.